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F Taylor
F. TAYLOR & SONS LIMITED '''1945-1965 England Not to be confused by the other American TAYLOR forklift and tractor firm of that similar name and other Taylor brands, the British brandname of F Taylor & Sons Manchester Ltd''' were a crane manufacturer based in Bolton Road. at Salford in the Manchester area of England. It was originally known as F.TAYLOR & SONS (Manchester) LIMITED a small crane company who were one of the earliest specialists in lifting machinery that designed & built machines for their own use, early units had a long non slewing jib and early hydraulics so they specialized in producing different wheeled mobilecrane and yardcrane models. The same idea was also later adopted by another British model the later IRON FAIRY 500P crane.. Later the company was taken over by the giant Coles Cranes for their hydraulic mobile crane technology in 1959. Coles Cranes Limited decided that F.Taylor & Sons Ltd would also produce the smallest Coles models alongside their own original Taylor Jumbo mobilecranes all was being done under the Coles ownership and control, meanwhile F.Taylor & Sons Ltd crane production lasted until the early 1980s. History The firm was founded in early 1945 by F Taylor and was a commercial vehicle distributor in the 1930s. In 1945 the company had a contract, to store and distribute imported cotton from America and used various disused Manchester warehouses. The handling of these big bundles was a problem and the Taylor company decided to build a crane prototype to assist them and the firm made their own experimental lifting machine that was their first real yardcrane model and it was built on a second hand Morris Commercial WD 4X4 Armytruck chassis fitted with hydraulic lifting mechanism. Some similar models were produced and that kept the company busy for a while and later acquired all the remaining unused 4X4 chassis that Morris Commercial never used on their armytrucks. Taylor Hydracrane 1945-1956 Fronm the early prototypes Taylor used the Morris Commercial armytruck chassis as a basis for their own new crane models but soon the stocks ran out and Taylor launched their own original 4WD cranechassis and soon develped improved a brandnew version now called the Taylor Hydracrane Diesel produced from 1946. This model had twin hydraulic rams for lowering and raising the new non-slewing armjib.They developed the rotary hydraulic coupling in 1956 which is now used by most manufactures since, that allowed 360 degree rotation and slewing. Taylors built over a 100 Hydracranes between 1945 and 1959. When they were taken over by Coles Cranes, for the hydraulic technology Coles also applied vast improvements such as mechanical drive and all wheel drive axles to almost all the Taylor models and sold even better mainly due to the updated mechanicals and hydraulics it received duirng in the 1960s. From the 1970s onwards, the very popular COLES Speedcrane model was being entirely made by F. Taylor themselves in Manchester and hardly ever made by Steels/Coles themselves who wanted to develop & manufacture new oversized cranetrucks and update all the railway cranes at the time in 1970. Taylor Jumbo crane 1956-1965 Another product was the Taylor Jumbo Junior an original 1ton yardcrane built on a Fordson Major skid unit as used by several manufactures at the time so it was little more than a farmtractor. The skid unit was back to front giving a rear steering action and front wheel drive with the load over the drive axle this early cranes did not have winch at all it just elevated the armjib. Although it was only 1 ton capacity limited, it never sold very well and was quickly replaced by the more successful larger Taylor Jumbo Crane Series 43. Better known simply as Taylor Jumbo in incorporated hydraulic operation but this one with fully slewing motions. Some of these were acquired by the Steel Engineering Products Limited or SEP Ltd in 1959 ( Owners of Coles Cranes Ltd) rebuilding the models in the early 1960s to give both the new Taylor Series 42 4WD offroad crane & the new Taylor Series 50 4X2 yardcrane two updated & different mobilecrane ranges. Over the next decade the principle of modern hydraulics that Taylor pionnered and its modern designs everything had been adopted and inspired by SEP Ltd, who bought the whole F.Taylor & Sons Ltd operation and were soon turned into another subsidiary of Coles Cranes Limited. Nevertheless the F.Taylor crane company were still manufacturing the smallest & original Coles Crane 4X4 /4X2 mobilecranes and yardcranes model ranges only and kept manufacturing these until around 1982. THE F.TAYLOR & SONS LIMITED Model Rage *Taylor Hydracrane *Taylor Jumbo *Taylor Jumbo Junior *Taylor Jumbo 3T *Taylor Series 43 - Mounted on a 4x4 chassis (army surplus) *Taylor Series 50 developed into the Coles Speedcrane in 1962 *Taylor Speedcrane Preserved Machines An early example of a Taylor Hydracrane is still being used in a Hertfordshire plant dealer. The machine has not been restored but still works and was bought for its uniqueness. Its powered by a rare British Newage Diesel engine. Some units of Taylor Jumbo Series 45 cranes are still being used mainly in scrapyards, boatyards and foundries although these are now rare to find. British Steel Limited acquired 100 units of all sorts of rugged Taylor cranes for work at their many UK locations in the 1950s-1960s of which some are in use today. See also *List of Construction Plant Manufacturers *List of Engine Manufacturers *Coles Cranes *Fordson References *Classic Plant & Machinery Magazine, Vol2 no. 3 November 2003, page 37 *Coles Crane History pages Links *Taylors History Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Category:Merged companies Category:Cranes Category:Construction plant manufacturers Category:Coles Cranes Category:F Taylor & Sons Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Category:Merged companies Category:Cranes Category:Construction plant manufacturers Category:Coles Cranes Category:F Taylor & Sons